A funny thing about "worst cities" lists: They ALL have ONE THING in Common!

I have lived in many places, and my work has taken me to dozens of others. Rather than sit in a hotel bar to die time, I like to move around and get
the "feel" of the places I visit.

I just returned from an extended visit, and found the city I'd been to featured in a "Worst Cities" list (deservedly so). Based upon my own
observations and review of the local news and press, I found myself drawn to a certain gut-feeling about why this place had declined so badly from
what I'd remembered of long-past visits.

I decided to look for similar recent compilations and dig a little to see if my feelings were borne out, or completely off base.

What I discovered was that over the period from 2010 to the present, several of these places were consistently among those listed as "worst." Even
more revealing was that they shared several of the usual criteria for inclusion frequently used for selection: crime, poverty, corruption, high taxes,
housing and services; but, that the mix varied and was never consistent.

However, there was one single factor that these various "worst" places shared, and that it had not changed over time.

What, you might ask, was the "one single factor" that among all the other criteria for inclusion, these terrible places shared between and among
themselves?

Shockingly (?), the commonality they shared was that they were at present, or had just recently been, governed by Democrat administrations!

Here is my run-down, in alphabetical order, of the worst of the worst places to live with my notes and reference to this single unifying criterion.

I started this inquiry with only a gut feeling; but what I found appears to have borne-out my suspicions.
I still haven't had enough time to see if this holds true over longer periods of time, or even why it holds true at all. I will check to see if
academics or peer-reviewed analyses have examined this phenomenon.

So cities run by democrats are the worst? I'm not up with politics but I'm assuming you're not a democrat?
Sure it has nothing to do with people on government benefits or drug addicts in particular. I don't think it's fair to say that a city is bad
because of the gov they follow. No matter what gov they're run by, they're still going to be derros.

Democrats destroy everything they touch. They are greedy, mercilous people that think if they throw a little (or a lot) of money at a problem, it'll
fix itself. They have no personal responsiblity themselves, and expect no one else to exhibit personal responsibility.

I'm from Indiana and Gary, Indiana is always in the top 10 worst cities and used to be labeled the "murder capital of the US" and Indiana is an
EXTREMELY conservative state. (Also, my state has some of the most lenient gun laws in the country, so no, that's not a factor either.)

Gary, indeed, is on one or two of the lists, but wasn't there as consistently across times and sources as the others. I'm very familiar with the
Lake and Porter County area, and it has dsuffered horrible decline with the closing of the mills and the loss of shipping.
I also understand that the rank corruption is being fought successfully (?), but that, alone, won't cure a deteriorating economic base.
I'm also familiar with Chicago businesses and investors who see the area as an opportunity for expansion and cheap acquisitions.

As an 'outsider' looking in what struck me was the number of elected officials, regardless of political affiliation, who had been linked to and
found guilty of corruption etc.

Perhaps that's the root cause - greedy bastards who seek public office with the intent of furthering their own political ambitions and lining their
own pockets rather than putting the cares, concerns and interests of their constituents first.

Indianapolis is not now, nor has it ever been in my 35 years living there, been run by democrats. Lets be honest, indiana is the red thorn, in the
blue spot in the center of the country. OH and IL, are consistently for dems, as well as michigan, Indiana went Obama in 08, but still this is in no
way a sign of local politics.

In short, Indiana is run by the right, and as such, we have money in the bank, low crime and corruption, and a pretty healthy economy, which is the
reason the repub party wanted our governor Mitch Daniels ( R) to run against Obama. He would have dominated Obama in the election, his wife didnt want
to be ran through the ringer on 24 hour worldwide news for months, so Mitch declined his parties nomination, and the country is the worse for it.

A bit far fetched in my opinion, as these opinions are completely subjective. One mans trash is another mans dinner for a week.

I rekon a poor guy from bombay would eat like a king where I live. And we're the arse end of the world.

I know I've seen some derelict cities around, and after 6pm any week night and all weekend starting friday arvo, till 5am monday morning, we don't
look any different to those ghost towns... maybe more drunks in the gutter, can't tell, don't count 'em.

It might also have something to do that most of the states you mentioned we once industrial and manufacturing centers. People at one time flocked
into those areas for jobs and opportunity. Now those jobs and opportunities are disappearing and the jobs left behind do not pay as well. So now you
have these clusters of people competing against each other for chump change wages...this creates stress and uncertainty and this erodes the sense of
community.

I'm not denying that one party seems to handle things better than the other, but I dislike both of them for a variety of reasons. One party is
better with managing money but wants to beat you over the head with their "heightened" sense of morality...the other says it wants you to be free
and then creates more laws and fosters the Police/nanny state...I will choose option #3 please...

Really?!! Believe me, I have been in a number of those cities over the past 20 years and their decline has nothing to do with Democrats. It has more
to do with poor government policies overall than the administration that happened to be in office. For instance, Republicans RAPED Michigan over time
so it is no surprise that Detroit and Flint are on the list that they have been off and on over the past 20 years.

Oh, also, for the people that still believe that we are a two party system-we have the choice of a puppet with a left hand up it's butt or a puppet
with a right hand up its butt. Either way, both sides are puppets to larger interests.

Anyone who thinks a mayor has anything to do with the national party they run under is fooling themselves. Its as silly as the local Sheriff running
under party. I also find it ironic that cities that have been crap for generations are suddenly blamed on just the last guy in office.

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